May 31, 2008

New Release!

My short story, Tutelary, is due for release day from Torquere Press. I have been waiting for a date for a while and when it came it was sudden 🙂

Here’s a short excerpt:

Matthias sat on the side of the bed just watching Daniel sleep. The sheet had slid down as far as his stomach and it took all Matthias’ willpower not to reach out and caress the honey-colored skin. Daniel always was a rough sleeper, tossing and turning and occasionally kicking Matthias’ legs. Matthias didn’t care; just being able to sleep beside Daniel had been a blessing for him. Making love with him had been miraculous. Tears pricked at his eyes at the thought that perhaps never again…

“Matt?” Daniel said sleepily, rubbing at his eyes. He glanced at the window seeing it was hardly light yet. “Why are you sitting there?” He smiled, patting the mattress next to him. “It’s much nicer in here with me.”

“I…I need to talk with you and, if I was in there with you, we wouldn’t talk.”

Daniel laughed, “Heck no. Come on we can talk later, there’s a lot better things you can do with that lovely mouth of yours.”

“Danny, please.”

Daniel’s smile faded as he finally understood that Matt was serious about wanting to talk. “Sure, whatever.” He frowned, “Matt, why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”

Matthias sighed and got to his feet. He walked toward the window, lifted a slat and looked outside. He was trying to delay the inevitable; he didn’t want to say what he had to, but he knew it was a futile exercise and the delay was only making Daniel more anxious, he could feel it.

Turning back, he said bluntly, “I have to leave, Daniel, and…”

“Leave? Why? How long for?” Daniel threw the covers back and swung his legs over the side of the bed so he was sitting facing Matt.

“I am so sorry, Danny,” Matthias said taking a step forward and forcing himself to stop. “I have to leave very soon, and I won’t be coming back.” As he watched the emotions flicker across Daniel’s expressive face, Matthias felt his stomach twist and the ache in his heart felt too great to bear.